Substance misuse services in the community
CRI provides a range of community based services for people with substance misuse problems. Many of our service users attend voluntarily but others are obliged to do so as part of a court order and as an alternative to prison. These services are geared towards supporting individuals to successfully overcome substance misuse problems and to lead stable, crime-free lives.
We provide structured therapeutic programmes that address substance misuse and criminal activity and we aim to support individuals at every step of the way. We also address the educational, employment and housing needs of our service users to help them make positive life style changes and sustain their commitment to change.
Crack Services
DAIS
Foundation Programmes
Khat Project
Substance Misuse Services
Crack Services
Services for people using crack cocaine include a specialist group for people who are currently engaged in treatment which provides support, information and relapse prevention strategies. Service users are also trained to support their peers in the community and at the end of a training period are recruited to help facilitate the next training cycle.
DAIS
DAIS (Drug Advice Intervention and Skills) are open access services using informal contact to introduce people to the idea of treatment and to motivate them to attend structured treatment services. DAIS promotes harm reduction and provides specialist advice, assessment, information and referral to other services: this includes the provision of primary health care support including safe needle exchange and health advice both in relation to drug use and general health. This part of the service is provided in partnership with local NHS Trusts and includes testing and vaccinations for hepatitis, advice on avoiding blood borne viruses and treatment for injection wounds and infections.
The DAIS projects also operate outreach services in local communities aimed at hard to reach individuals and groups and provide specialist services for young people under 16 years of age as well as family and carer support, relapse prevention and dual diagnosis groups.
DAIS services are largely targeted at opiate users but also provide specialist help for those using stimulants such as crack cocaine. Other specialist features of the DAIS services are sessions for steroid users and women only sessions.
Foundation Programmes
CRI has developed an innovative support programme for homeless people with substance misuse problems. Foundation programmes are a first step to help prepare people with entrenched drug problems and chaotic lives to use structured, mainstream drug services. The programmes also aim to reduce the numbers of drug related deaths amongst a highly vulnerable group of people. The teams work alongside some street services teams and deliver specially designed and targeted group programmes.
Khat Project
CRI runs an outreach service for the Somali community in London, specifically focused on problems associated with the drug khat. This specialist service provides outreach, education and support and undertakes educational work with young people as well as with the wider community. There is also a specialist service for women in the Somali community.
Substance Misuse Services
DRR
CRI provides the social care element of drug rehabilitation requirement orders (DRRs). A DRR is a court-imposed community sentence targeted at entrenched drug users over the age of sixteen who are caught in a cycle of drug use and offending. The primary aim of the DRR is abstinence and a crime-free life and services are provided in partnership with probation and NHS treatment providers.
Structured Day Care and Aftercare
CRI provides a broad range of specialist structured day care services tailored to the needs of local communities. The projects work closely with statutory prescribing services and target heroin, cocaine or crack users with established drug habits and a history of associated offending behaviour.
The programmes are delivered in three distinct phases. At the entry level the focus is on harm minimisation and stabilisation for active users. The second stage of detoxification focuses on relapse management. The aftercare stage, for those leaving the programme, involves supporting people to achieve the aims of their care plan and guiding them towards further help and support in the community.
The strength of all of the structured day care programmes is the integration between those required to attend through drug treatment and testing orders and those attending voluntarily, as well as the partnership working with the probation service and primary health care services. In addition, service users are actively engaged in the design and delivery of the programmes.
